AINSWORTH, Katherine. THE McCALLUM SAGA, The Story of the Founding of Palm Springs. Palm Springs: The Palm Springs Desert Museum, 1973. 4to, xvi, 245pp, illustrated. Cloth, dust jacket. Very good. ¶ First Edition, inscribed by the author, of the best history of early Palm Springs. $50.

ANDERSON, Winslow. MINERAL SPRINGS AND HEALTH RESORTS OF CALIFORNIA with a complete Chemical Analysis of every important Mineral water in the World. San Francisco: Bancroft, 1892. Large 8vo, xxx, 384pp, 60 illustrations in the text. Original brown cloth pictorially stamped in gilt and black, spine ends and edges rubbed, ink blotches to front free endpaper, otherwise very good. ¶ This important text concentrates on the springs and spas of California and the illustrations include several of Yosemite, as well as views from San Diego to Lake Tahoe. Numerous European springs are also included in the text. Anderson describes 196 thermal or mineral springs in California, with chemical analyses of the water from many. $350.

ARCHER, Lou Ella. Illustrated by Lillian Wilhelm Smith. CANYON SHADOWS. Phoenix: (Times-Mirror Press), 1931. 4to, (35)pp, 7 color plates. Orig. burlap with color landscape inlay and titles stamped in dark brown. Very good. ¶ Of note for the illustration of Seven Palms, the oasis near Desert Hot Springs. Lillian Wilhelm Smith (1882-1971) enrolled at the Art Student’s League at the age of 12 and an interest in the American West was inspired by a visit to Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show at Madison Square Garden in 1907. In 1913 Zane Grey (who was married to Lillian’s cousin) invited her to accompany him on a trip to Navajo country in order to illustrate Rainbow Trail, his sequel to Riders of the Purple Sage. She fell under the spell of Arizona and spent the remainder of her long life there, often traveling with Grey to paint illustrations for his books and dust jackets. From her homes in Prescott and Sedona she made numerous painting trips to the Southern California deserts, and painted the remote oasis of Seven Palms, now in the town of Desert Hot Springs to the north of Palm Springs. $100.

BAILEY, Paul. AN UNNATURAL HISTORY OF DEATH VALLEY, With Reflections on The Valley’s Varmints, Virgins, Vandals and Visionaries. Death Valley: Chalfant Press, 1978. 8vo, 84pp, misc b&w photo-illus. Cloth, dust jacket, fine in like dj. ¶ First Edition, published for the Death Valley ‘49ers, illustrated with photographs and drawings by Bill Bender. $75.

¶ First Edition, volume one only. Bell joined the surveying expedition organized by the Kansas Pacific Railway Company in 1867 to find a southern railroad route to the Pacific Coast through Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and southern California. Their route through the Southwest is traced on the large folding map tipped into this volume. (The second volume includes a discussion of the Pacific railway and a botanical report.) Cowan p.45. Howes B330. Edwards, Enduring Desert, p.272. Flake 393. Paher 114. $450.

BONKER, Frances & Dean John James Thornber. THE SAGE OF THE DESERT, and Other Cacti, Studies of that Fantastic Clan, the Cactus of the Desert, and other Interesting and Peculair Desert Growths. Boston: The Stratford Co., (1930). 8vo, 106pp, illustrated. Bookplate, red spot on cover, otherwise very good in brown cloth stamped with gilt cactus and title.. ¶ First Edition, inscribed “From your Friend, France Bonker.” With an introduction by Harold Bell Wright. $30.

BURDICK, Arthur J. MYSTIC MID-REGION. New York and London: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1904. 8vo, ix, 237, (2 ads)pp, frontis, 54 plates (many from photographs. Pictorial cloth. Very good. ¶ First Edition of one of the classics of the desert, with early and capable descriptions of desert plants, animals, Indians, burros, mining, etc. “A book whose substance in entirely devoted to the California deserts, and whose date of publication is 1904, is one we may safely assume to be a pioneer in its field” (Edwards p.37). $150.

CARUTHERS, William. LOAFING ALONG DEATH VALLEY TRAILS. A Personal Narrative of People and Places. Shoshone: Death Valley Publ., 1951. 8vo, 191pp, 24 b&w photoplates. Green cloth, black lettered and illustrated, dust jacket, fine in near fine dj. ¶ Second and slightly revised edition. Features a parade of interesting and colorful characters the author met during his twenty-five years living in “the Big Sink at the bottom of America.” “One of the top level items on Death Valley... Caruthers ushers in a resurgence of glamour as he reactivates for his readers the romantic old ghost towns of this desert’s fabulous mining era” (Edwards, Enduring Desert p. 42-43). Adams, Six-Guns 387. $30.

CHALFANT, W.A. THE STORY OF INYO. N.p.: Published by the Author, 1922. 8vo, xviii, 358pp, folding frontispiece map, errata slip on back pastedown. Orig. red cloth, gilt, covers slightly spotted, signature on endpaper. ¶ First Edition, signed by the author on the dedication leaf. The best history of the Owens Valley, with sections on the Sierras and Death Valley. Chalfant based much of his history of the pre-1870 period on the private library of Henry Hanks who had been an assayer in Inyo County and went on to become State Mineralogist (the Hanks library was lost in the San Francisco fire of 1906). Cowan p.112. Howes C261. $100.

CHAPIN, Edward L. A SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA MAPS. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1953. 4to, x, 124pp. Wrappers. Very good. ¶ A list of 624 maps of the ten southernmost California counties. the maps selected are all dated after 1900, with most in the 1903s and 1940s. $65.

CHASE, J. Smeaton. CALIFORNIA DESERT TRAILS. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1919. 8vo, xvi, 387pp, photographic plates. Orig. decorative cloth. Inscription, otherwise very good. ¶ First Edition. “Ranks second only to James’ Wonders of the Colorado Desert as the outstanding book on the Colorado Desert” (Edwards). “Another gifted and perceptive observor of nature, and one of the California’s most enjoyable essayists, was Joseph Smeaton Chase. He was English by birth, and a social worker by professions, working for many years in a Los Angeles settlement house. He found time, however, for long, leisurely trips on horseback, preferably alone, with a book of poems and a notebook in his saddle bags... Like James and John Van Dyke, Chase was fascinated by the beauty of the desert, which he called - with a slight bow to Charles Dudley Warner - ‘our Araby;’ he finally made his home near Palm Springs” (Stoughton, The Books of California, p.92). “One of the two outstanding books descriptive of the Colorado Desert. The book is well written; the material intelligently assembled The book is indispensable to any library, large or small, whether for desert lover or desert stranger” (Edwards, Enduring Desert). Includes an appendix of plants and hints on travelling in the desert. $100.

(Coachella Valley). A KEY TO THE PLANTS AND PLACES OF INTEREST IN THE COACHELLA VALLEY by The Nature Study Classes of the Coachella Valley Evening High School. Coachella Valley Union High School District, 1951. 8vo, 71pp, b/w text and photo-illus. throughout. Orig. yellow and navy blue pictorial wrappers, a very good copy. $20.

(COOLIDGE, Matthew). ROUTE 58. A Cross-Section of California. A Guide to Unusual and Exemplary Land Use along the Roadway from Barstow to Santa Margarita. (Culver City: Center for Land Use Interpretation), (1998). 8vo, 78pp, b/w photo-illus. and text maps throughout, 1 folding map. Photo-illus. wrappers, fine. ¶ Fifth printing, originally issued in 1997. Route 58 heads west from Barstow through Bakersfield to Santa Margarita just north of San Luis Obispo. $15.

DE BUYS, William - photographs by Joan Myers. SALT DREAMS: Land & Water in Low-Down California. University of New Mexico Press, 1999. 8vo, xiii, (v), 307pp plus numerous b/w photo plates. Cloth, dust jacket. Fine. ¶ First Edition of a very important work summarizing the past, critiquing the present, and envisioning a future for California’s water dilenma in the Imperial Valley. DeBuys provides a well-written and well-researched history of the Salton Sea and Joan Myers austerely beautiful photographs make the book a delight. $35.

FRIEDLANDER, Lee. THE DESERT SEEN. New York: D.A.P., (1996). 4to, 106pp, 93 b&w photoplates. Cloth, dust jacket, fine in like dj. ¶ First Edition, with excerpts from The Autobiography of My Mother by Jamaica Kinkaid. “This aptly titled volume is Friedlander’s tribute to one of the most extraordinary landscapes of the American Southwest: the Sonoran Desert. A devotee of wild places since his boyhood in the Olympia Mountains of Washington, Friedlander brings to the desert an artist"s sense of wonder and a woodsman’s eye for detail. His camera embraces the textures of rounded cactus, twisted trees, and harsh rock, in a body of work that redefines and renews the tradition of landscape photography.” $75.

HENDERSON, Randall. SUN, SAND AND SOLITUDE, Vignettes from the Notebook of a Veteran Desert Reporter. Desert Sketches by Norton Allen. Los Angeles: Westernlore Press, 1968. 8vo, 206pp, 8 leaves of color plates. Cloth, dust jacket. Fine. ¶ First Edition, signed by the author on the title. Henderson’s Vignettes... are avenues of philosophical approach to desert lands and desert adventuring. He writes in the intimate, informal style of a desert friend and companion with whom one may share pleasant conversation around a camp fire” (Edwards p.114-15). $35.

HENDERSON, Randall. WILD PALMS OF THE CALIFORNIA DESERT, The Story of Palm Canyon, Andreas Canyon, Fern Canyon & Eagle Canyon. Palm Springs: Desert Magazine, 1951. 8vo, 31pp, b/w photographs & a map. Printed wrappers. Very good ¶ Only Edition. Edwards p.115: “Concerning the palm canyons in our deserts, this is the best item I have read. Certainly no one is better qualified to write on the subject of palm oases in Southern California than the distinguished editor of Desert Magazine.” $40.

HENDERSON, Randall. WILD PALMS OF THE CALIFORNIA DESERT, The Story of Palm Canyon, Andreas Canyon, Fern Canyon & Eagle Canyon. Palm Springs: Desert Magazine, 1951. 8vo, 31pp, b/w photographs & a map. Printed wrappers. Very good ¶ Only Edition. Edwards p.115: “Concerning the palm canyons in our deserts, this is the best item I have read. Certainly no one is better qualified to write on the subject of palm oases in Southern California than the distinguished editor of Desert Magazine.” $40.

JAMES, George Wharton. WONDERS OF THE COLORADO DESERT (Southern California), Its Rivers and its Mountains, its Canyons and its Springs, its Life and its History, Pictured and Described. Including an Account of a Recent Journey made down the Overflow of the Colorado River to the Mysterious Salton Sea. With upwards of Three-Hundred Pen-and-Ink Sketches from Nature by Carl Eytel Boston Little, Brown, and Company 1906 2 vols, 8vo, xliv, 270; xiv, 271-547, (1), (2 ads)pp, 33 full page plates (one in color). Publisher’s quarter gray cloth over blue cloth, central gilt vignettes of an oasis, gilt spine lettering. Very good, tight set. ¶ First Edition. “This item remains, after all these years, the classic and definitive account of the Colorado desert. Here is a closely-integrated presentations of the desert’s history, its inhabitants, its plant and animal life, its physical characteristics, its every imaginable facet of interest. In the quality of its realistic approach to the subjects covered, in the appeal of its versatility, and in the extensiveness of its scope, James’ superlative effort stands majestically alone. No other item on the Colorado desert, with the possible exception of J. Smeaton Chase’s California Desert Trails, can even remotely approach it” (Edwards). The pen-and-ink drawings by Palm Springs artist Carl Eytel add immensely to the book’s appeal. Edwards, Enduring Desert, p.130/1. Howes J44. Powell, Land of Fact, 14. $275.

KELLING, Patricia Jernigan, ed. ONCE UPON A DESERT, A Bicentennial Project. Barstow: Mojave River Valley Museum Assoc., (1994). 4to, vii, 281pp, inc. photographic plates. Very good. ¶ Third printing (first 1976). A collection of articles, stories and personal recollections concerning the history of the Mojave River Valley and the high desert communities of Adelanto, Barstow, Needles, and Victorville, in San Bernardino County. $20.

KENNAN, George. THE SALTON SEA, An Account of Harriman’s Fight with the Colorado River. New York: Macmillan, 1917. 8vo, (10), 106 (+ads), photo. illus & plans. Blue cloth, gilt. Bookplate. Very good copy. ¶ First Edition. “The book ably presents the role of the Southern Pacific in the memorable fight against the Colorado River break in 1906-07. The content of the book is sectionalized as follows: The Salton Sink, The Creation of the Oasis, The Runaway River, The Saving of the Valley, The Recompense” (Edwards). Cowan p.327. Edwards, Enduring Desert, pp.142-43; Desert Voices p.98. $85.

MOLLHAUSEN, [Heinrich] Baldwin. DIARY OF A JOURNEY from the Mississippi to the Coasts of the Pacific with a United States Government Expedition. With an Introduction by Alexander von Humboldt. Translated by Mrs Percy Sinnett. London: Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans, & Roberts, 1858. 2 vols, 8vo, xxx, (1), 352; x, (2), 397, (1)pp, folding map outlined in color, 11 chromolithograph plates and 12 woodcuts. Orig. red cloth, recased, the spines expertly repaired to style, slight dampstain to vol. 2. A very good set. ¶ First English Edition of a highly important account of the explorations in the American West and of Indian life. Mollhausen made three visits to Western America: 1849-52, 1853-54; and 1857-58. On the second trip he accompanied the Whipple wExpedition as artist and naturalist and a number of the plates in the Whipple report were lithographed from his drawings. On his third visit he traveled with Ives on the Colorado River expedition and his sketches are also lithographed therein. The handsome map illustrates the route of the expedition from Ft Smith, Arkansas, through the Indian territories in the Southwest to California. Howes M-713. Farquhar, Colorado River, 19 (“Mollhausen’s sketches are often admirable). Sabin 49915. Wagner-Camp 305. Wheat, Transmississippi West, 4: map 956. $3000.

NORDLAND, Ole J. COACHELLA VALLEY’S GOLDEN YEARS; The Early History of the Coachella Valley County Water District and Stories about the Discovery and Development of this Section of the Colorado Desert. Indio: Desert Printing, 1978. 4to, 120pp, b/w photo-illus. throughout. Orig. yellow, photo-illus. wrappers, faint soiling at top margin upper wrapper, otherwise very good. ¶ Revised edition of this fascinating miscellany filled with early photographs. $35.

O’NEAL, Lulu Rasmussen. A PECULIAR PIECE OF DESERT: The Story of California’s Morongo Basin. Los Angeles: Westernlore Press, 1957. 8vo, 208pp inc. photo. plates, map endpapers. Red cloth, dust jacket. Very good. ¶ First Edition, limited to 450 copies. “...our one definitive treatise on the increasingly popular High Desert country embracing the area in - and adjacent to - the Morongo and Yucca Valleys, Twentynine Palm, and the Joshua Tree National Monument. The material in this item is intelligently assembled, carefully documented, and entertainingly presented...” Edwards, Enduring Desert, p.186. $50.

PEIRSON, Erma. THE MOJAVE RIVER AND ITS VALLEY: An Ancient River, and the Story of Its Discovery, Its Paradoxical Nature, Its Service as a Pathway for Migration and the Progress of Its Valley. Glendale: Arthur H. Clark, 1970. 8vo. 229pp, frontis, 17pp of plates from black-and-white photographs, 2 maps (1 folding, 1 double-page). Cloth, dust jacket. Very good. ¶ First Edition. In his foreword, desert bibliographer Edwards writes, “Using the age-old river as her central theme, Mrs Peirson weaves around it a brilliant tapestry of historical lore. There are chapters relating to the early day visitors, the first ranches and towns, the remote canyons and valleys, the courageous settlers who pioneered this lonely land that sprawls along its ancient river ... The Mojave River and its Valley qualifies as one of this desert’s distinguished books.” $60.

SALTON SEA ATLAS. Redlands: Redlands Institute, 2002. Folio, unpaginated, color map, charts, & illus. throughout. Cloth, dust jacket. Fine. ¶ “The Salton Sea Atlas is the benchmark reference for the Sea that brings together much of what is known about this complex and controversial environment. Groundbreaking in its visual presentation of the surprisingly interwoven story, the Atlas is a comprehensive scientific, historical, and physical representation of the unique region. Using cutting-edge geographic information systems technology, vast amounts of data were transformed into multi-layered, multi-themed maps that are as visually compelling as they are revelatory of the hidden nature of the Sea and its landscape” (publisher’s note). $100.

STOCKER, Vera McPherson. THE WHITEWATER STORY. In: San Bernardino County Museum Quarterly, Vol. XX, No. 3 & 4, Spring & Summer, 1973. 4to, 13 pages in whole issue, wrappers. Very good ¶ The author was a descendent of the James Willis Stocker family who were part owners of the Whitewater Ranch. $25.

(Wheeler Survey 6). ROTHROCK. J.T. (George M. Wheeler & A.A. Humphreys). REPORTS UPON THE BOTANICAL COLLECTIONS Made in Portions of Nevada, Utah, California, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona, during the Years 1871...1875. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1878. 4to, xx, 404pp, chromolithograph frontis. of an Arizona cactus grove, 30 b/w lithographed plates of plants, mostly by Isaac Sprague, 1 woodcut in the text. Contemp. cloth. Very good tight copy. ¶ The botanical volume, no. 6, of the Wheeler Survey, U.S .Army Engineer Department Survey West of the One Hundreth Meridian. The beautiful chromo frontispiece is “A Cactus Grove, Arizona (Cereus Giganteus), 1871,” lithographed by Sinclair of Philadelphia. Rothrock was the botanist on the Wheeler Expeditions on 1873, 1874, and 1875, and later professor of Botany at the University of Pennsylvania. $300.

WRIGHT, Harold Bell. THE WINNING OF BARBARA WORTH. Chicago: Book Supply Co., 1911. 8vo, 511pp, 6 plates by F. Graham Cootes. Red cloth. Bookplate, library stamp, and small no. on spine, otherwise good. ¶ First Edition of Wright’s best seller, based on the actual events of the struggle to control the Colorado River. In 1905 the River threatened to destroy the Imperial Valley which had only a few years before been reclaimed from the desert. The story revolves around the cutting of canals and installing gates in the banks of the Colorado, the subsequent floods washing out those gates, and the heroic efforts to close the gap. Farquhar, The Books of Colorado River, 87: “This bestseller of its day deserves a permanent place in Colorado River literature, for in utilizing the story of the epic fight against the river it preserves the spirit of the times. Barbara’s technique in being won may seem naive, but she remains one of California’s most charming heroines, at times putting even Ramona in the shade.” Powell, Land of Fiction, 5: “...the first novel to tell the public what water means to Southern California, and that ruin lies both in too much and too little.” Baird & Greenwood 2698. Filmed in 1926 with Gary Cooper in his screen debut. Wright wrote the book at his ranch between El Centro and Holtville. $30.

DESERT MAGAZINE. List of issues available (and list of desiderata) on request.